


What You Don't Know

by Katsuko



Series: The Right of All [4]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bromance, Friendship, Gen, Medic!Starscream, Screamer snark deserves its own bloody tag, Skywarp is a BAMF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-12
Updated: 2012-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 11:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If things hadn't happened as they did, he may never have had this crisis of faith in the cause.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What You Don't Know

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://the-fic-trader.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**the_fic_trader**](http://the-fic-trader.dreamwidth.org/) 's [Gen in January](http://the-fic-trader.dreamwidth.org/25221.html) challenge. The prompt was _Beachcomber, making a choice not to fight._
> 
> And funny enough, I'm back to where this whole series started: Gen in January. So y'all really should thank that community for me ever starting this series of one-shots.
> 
> Originally posted 15 January 2012

It had been nearly an Earth month since the last time he'd actually gone into battle, and Beachcomber was honestly glad for that, honestly happy that Prowl hadn't asked too many questions when he'd told the SIC that he didn't think he could fight again after... well, after.

He hadn't exactly explained what he meant by _after_ , either, and thankfully Prowl had let that slide as well.

If things hadn't happened as they did, if Beachcomber hadn't gotten the idea to flush out the Decepticon's second, then chances were he would never have had his current crisis of faith in the cause.

* * *

The plan had been shockingly simple.

Beachcomber had noticed that ever since they'd arrived on Earth whenever one of the aerial fleet was gunned down, Starscream and his trine followed them down within a matter of seconds. It generally took about two breems for all involved to get back into the sky and return to battle, but Beachcomber wondered if it was possible to gun all of them down and _keep_ them out of the fight.

So that was all he had been thinking when he targeted Blitzwing and took the shot.

The triple-changer hit the ground, transforming into root-mode as he went; sure enough, the command trine followed him out of the sky only seconds later.

Beachcomber remained in his hiding place, carefully targeting the mech that intel had long ago stated as the biggest threat. It would be best to take out Starscream first, he knew that, but chances were good that Skywarp would immediately teleport all four of them out of danger the second the shot was fired. Best to keep locked on Skywarp and take the shot as soon as—

And then his processor locked up for a moment as he realized the situation looked a whole lot like whenever Ratchet or Hoist was doing on-site triage, but only with Starscream playing the role of medic.

"Any idea who shot you," the tricolor seeker asked in a tone that clearly said _you're an idiot, sit still while I patch you up_ , "or did you have your optics closed when it happened?"

"You're a riot, Wings," the injured mech retorted, giving a pained smirk at the glare he received for the comment. "Nah, didn't see who did it, but I'd lay credits on that Praxian-build sniper."

Starscream made a sound that was half-growl and half-snort before reaching into his subspace, pulling out what was quite unmistakably a field repair kit. "Then he's probably already got another target in his sites. You need a painkiller, or are you just going to whine and complain the whole time?"

"No time for that, they make me drowsy. You know that, Wings," the triple-changer responded, biting back a pained sound as the seeker began welding shut damaged lines. "Still gotta get back in the fight."

Skywarp frowned, optics dimming slightly before he opened up a comm line. "Wing Command to Second Wing. You read me, Dirge?"

_"Loud and clear, Skywarp,"_ came the reply. _"I saw Blitz go down. Where do you want us?"_

Beachcomber reset his optical band as he realized rather abruptly that the command trine's structure was _not_ laid out the way that their intel stated. From where he was sitting, it looked for all the worlds like Starscream was a medic and that – quite possibly – it was actually Skywarp who was in charge of the whole Pit-damned aerial elite.

"Send Thrust to cover Octane," the teleporter was saying. "You and Ramjet move to cover for the Combaticons. We should be back in the air in less than a breem, so we'll fill in the blanks."

_"Copy, air commander. Dirge out."_

"I'm not picking up anything nearby," Thundercracker suddenly spoke up, sounding a bit suspicious. "That could be due to the fact that the Autobot sniper moved onto another target, or it could be due to a signal damper and this is an ambush."

"Then the slagger's got thirty astroseconds to do something about it," Starscream groused, finishing up the quick patch job on Blitzwing's damaged flap. "You're fixed enough to get airborne again," he added to the triple-changer, "so get your aft in gear before _I_ shoot you."

"Aw, you know we all love you, Wings," Blitzwing said even as he took to the sky again. "I'll go back up Thrust then, bossmech?" he added to Skywarp.

The purple seeker gave a short nod before turning his attention to his wingmate who was stowing the repair kit back into subspace. "You do know it's a damned good thing _you_ didn't get shot, too, right?"

Starscream rolled his head in a gesture of annoyance. "Like I can just ignore it when someone gets shot, Sky. No mech offlines on my watch."

"Don't bother arguing with him," Thundercracker said. "Watching his back is what Megatron brought us on for, remember?"

Skywarp grinned. "Wasn't it something like _make sure my easily-distracted CMO doesn't get his aft shot because there's nobot else who can fix him_ , TC?"

"I hate you both so much," Starscream drawled, but the grin on his face proved the words to be a lie.

Beachcomber didn't catch any more of the conversation, as the trine took to the air at that moment with good-natured ribbing. The minibot shifted so as to remain hidden, frowning to himself and noting for the first time exactly what make of aircraft made of the supposed-SIC's alt mode.

* * *

Even with a month of time between his plot to take down one of the Decepticon high command and this very moment, Beachcomber couldn't bring himself to actually reveal his findings to anyone. The news that with one shot he could have crippled the Decepticons at the most critical level – taking out the mech responsible for keeping the enemy online and in fighting condition – could possibly be used in the future to end this war for good.

But, if they did that, wouldn't that make the Autobots _worse_ than the Decepticons? After all, it had been ages since any of the medical team had been targeted in any manner beyond being the enemy; in fact, there'd only been a few times when the Decepticons had targeted the medics, and those had only been when it appeared that their own troops would have fallen into Ratchet or Hoist's care.

It made some sense now, though; even if he wasn't the air commander, Starscream _was_ the Decepticon's chief medical officer. And if Beachcomber had learned anything from watching Ratchet work, it was that the CMO preferred to keep his patients from becoming the enemy's POWs. Apparently some things were universal that way.

Sighing to himself, Beachcomber settled back in his chair and resumed his monitor duty. He couldn't help but hope for a cease-fire or for the war to finally end, if only because he wanted to learn just how in the pit the Decepticons had managed to keep their medic a secret since before they'd ever left Cybertron behind them.


End file.
